


Unexpected comfort

by Hannibalbabe92



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Death Eaters, Good Draco Malfoy, Good Severus Snape, Hermione Granger Bashing, House Elves, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), Protective Severus Snape, Ron Weasley Bashing, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 02:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20302120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hannibalbabe92/pseuds/Hannibalbabe92
Summary: Harry gets out of detention with professor umbridge and professor Snape finds him and conversations ensue. DO NOT POST TO ANOTHER SITE UNLESS YOU ASK FIRST. THANK YOU!!





	Unexpected comfort

**Author's Note:**

> The tags will change as the story progresses. The same goes for the rating. I want to thank Drarrelie for helping me with my work. Im not sure how many chapters there will be but I hope you enjoy it. Kudos comments always welcome <3 thank you for reading.

Harry wasn't entirely sure how long he had been there writing lines for Professor Umbridge, But the pain he felt from the enchanted quill having cut and scratched the phrase 'I must not tell lies' into his skin was burning and aching against his robes as he moved uncomfortably. He could feel that the heavy fabric was damp with his own blood making him squirm and feel uneasy.  
"Mr. Potter, Come here," Professor Umbridge ordered with an overly happy smile on her toad-like face. Harry could feel even more anxiety. He really just felt like crawling under a rock and running away. He never thought that he had been through something so upsetting at Hogwarts before. Not even dealing with Voldemort. This was different. This was supposed to be a teacher. He was supposed to trust her.

Harry got up from the lace-covered table she'd had him at and went over to her feeling nervous. He hoped that she let him go for the night. She grabbed Harry's arm and slid his sleeve up painfully smearing blood up his arm causing a new burning sensation.  
"Have you learned your lesson about lying yet?" Professor Umbridge asked happily. Harry nodded as shame and anger coursed through him. At that moment he hated her more than anything. He did all that he could to keep from losing his temper with her. It definitely wouldn't help his situation.  
"Yes," Harry said trying to keep his voice smooth.  
"Good. Then you may go," She said. Harry turned and exited the room as quickly as he could before she could think of a reason to call him back and keep him even longer.

Once out in the hall, Harry wasted no time getting away from her room. He stopped around the corner and leaned against the wall being careful not to hurt the scratches that went all the way up his arms. Looking out the window he realized that it was already late and the moon was high in the sky. He moved across the hall and to the window trying not to think of anything at all. It was all too much. His mind was being invaded by hundreds of thoughts all at once on top of the pain that he was experiencing. He knew that he should just go back up to the Gryffindor common room but he knew that Ron and Hermione were probably waiting for him and he wasn't ready for that at the moment. Instead, he wondered when people were going to start believing him that Voldemort was back. He wondered where Hagrid was. He wondered why Dumbledore wasn't doing anything about what was happening in Hogwarts. He wondered how he was supposed to finish this school year with Umbridge and the Ministry thwarting him at every turn. So many thoughts raced through his mind but he tried to ignore them, looking out over the grounds. He noted how peaceful it looked, glowing in the moonlight. He wished that he felt just as calm as the view before him.  
"Potter, What are you doing out of bed?" Demanded the familiar voice of Professor Snape. Harry jumped and turned and bumped the wall with his upper arm sending a new burning wave of pain through his extremity.  
"Just finished detention with Professor Umbridge," Harry said watching in confusion as interest crossed Snape's face. Why was he suddenly so interested in his detention with Umbridge?  
"Is that so?"Professor Snape asked Harry with a tone that confused Harry even further. Harry nodded and sighed inwardly. He couldn't help feeling that he was going to be in for a long night.  
"Yes, Sir," Harry said hoping that Professor Snape wasn't going to add his own detention session to his already cramped schedule. He had too much to do as it was, without that on top of everything else that he was currently dealing with.  
"What is wrong with your arm?" Snape asked suddenly, going in a different direction than Harry had anticipated. Harry shook his head quickly, not wanting to think about what had just happened in Professor Umbridge's office.  
"Nothing, Sir," Harry lied, apparently rather poorly. Harry could tell by the frown on his face that his Professor didn't believe him. Snape was silent as he moved closer to Harry. He grabbed Harry's upper arm gently, making the younger man hiss in pain once more. This time, Harry couldn't help the tears that blinded his vision, both from pain and shame of the whole thing. The last thing that Harry had wanted was this.  
"come with me," Professor Snape ordered. Harry looked down feeling more defeated than ever before. For the first time in his life, He wished that he was anywhere other than Hogwarts. He wanted to run away. To disappear.

When they came down to the dungeons, Snape led Harry silently to his office and closed the door behind them. Harry shivered in the cold of the room. For some reason, the dungeons were colder than the rest of the school. At the moment it felt okay against his clammy feeling skin. He watched with trepidation as his Professor went to the front of the room and lit a few candles with the flick of his wand.  
"Come here," Snape requested, motioning Harry over. Feeling more rundown than ever, Harry did as he was told and went to the front of the room. There was something strange going on with the Professor tonight. For some reason, his usual disdain for Harry had given away to something else. His features now carried a sentiment that Harry had never seen expressed in the man's face before. It was entirely intriguing to watch. Harry suddenly found himself curious about the man and wanting to know more about him. 

Realizing just what he was considering, Harry promptly reigned in his train of thought and shook his head in confusion. He must have been more tired than he thought if he was thinking about actually befriending his Professor, His tormentor, who was spiteful and awful and absolutely terrifying. Both Hermione and Ron would never let him hear the end of it if they found out he'd even thought about it for a second.  
"Please, Sir, Don't give me another detention. I have too much homework already and this has been the worst week ever. Please don't." Harry begged. Professor Snape paused from cleaning his desk to look at the boy, clearly surprised to find his usually stubborn student at the point of begging.  
"I am not going to give you detention, Troublesome Boy. I want to know exactly what happened to your arm," Professor Snape said. Harry swallowed hard at the thought of telling the truth, but the look on the older man's face told him that he wasn't getting out of it.  
"She made me do lines with an enchanted quill," Harry said almost too quietly to hear. Harry watched as a look of pure anger passed across Professor Snape's features.  
"Robes off. I need to see what she did," 

Harry moved from foot to foot for a moment before he undid his robes and took it off, revealing a yellow shirt stained with blood and deep scratches up and down his arms and on the backs of his hands. Professor Snape gasped at the sight in front of him. Harry was surprised to notice the concern on Snape's face. Wasn't he happy to see him this way? Why was Snape so angry?  
"What is she doing? Is she crazy?" Professor Snape muttered to himself as he grabbed the hem of Harry's shirt and pulled it up over his head and off. Harry shivered and looked down as the man's eyes scanned the damage.  
"They hurt," Harry said softly, Unsure of what else to say. Silent tears streamed down Harry's face, sprung from pain and embarrassment of the situation. He had seldom been undressed in front of anyone let alone his professor. Harry's nerves were strung tight and he flinched hard as he felt Snape's hand cup his face gently and then sweep a tear off his cheek with the pad of his thumb.  
"Look at me," The man said softly, in a tone more gently than Harry had ever thought possible from the stern professor. Harry raised his gaze to look at Snape finding his dark eyes were filled with something he hadn't seen before. Fondness? Worry? No. That clearly had to be wrong.  
"Has she done this before?" Snape asked. Harry nodded slowly trying not to move into the contact of Snape's hand on his face. Despite the odd situation, it felt calming to have that kind of grounding contact.  
"Last night. And the night before that. And I am supposed to have detention tomorrow night," Harry said trying to hold back the sob that threatened to come forward.  
"Let me take care of these," Snape said leading Harry to sit on the edge of the desk. Harry shivered again from the nerves that he felt. Harry watched silently as Professor Snape went to his cabinets and grabbed a few things. He came back and put two wooden boxes down on the desk next to Harry.  
"There are a lot of things that you don't understand yet, Potter. Soon you will. You are far from stupid. And you do not want to give Delores Umbridge a reason to come after you. You do not want to cross her. You can see now that she doesn't play by any kind of rules other than the rules that she makes," Snape explained as he opened a box and took some gauze out of it.  
"You are the second person to tell me that," Harry said recalling his conversation with McGonagall as the smell of antiseptic filled his nose.  
"Then maybe you'd do well to listen to us," Snape said as he began cleaning one of the cuts. Harry hissed again at the pain.  
"I have to clean them. Even though they are magically induced, they can still get infected," Professor Snape said softly. Harry nodded.  
"I know," Harry said knowing that they really did need to be cleaned. He really didn't want to have any scars from this situation so he did his best to stay still and to stay quiet while Snape worked on them. Once finished, Professor Snape vanished the gauze and opened a second box, taking out two small jars containing some kind of cream, one pink and the other was silver.  
"These are from my own personal store. I have various potions to help with various injuries and illnesses." He took the lid off the first jar and put it aside.  
"This one will help with the healing process and the pain. The other one is the prevent scarring. You will need to come back for another application," Professor Snape said applying a thin layer to one of the deeper cuts. 

Both of them stayed quiet as Snape worked and Harry let out a content sigh at the feel of Snape's hands working over his wounded skin. He knew that he shouldn't enjoy the man's gentle touch but it was hard not to. The unexpected softness of the man was quite new to Harry. When he chanced a glance at the man, he noticed the contentment mirrored in Snape's feature. It was a rare sight to see his professor so calm.  
"Why do you hate me?" Harry asked watching Snape put the lid back on the first jar and started over with the second cream. There was a long silence before the man replied. For a moment Harry had thought that Professor Snape had just ignored him.  
"I don't hate you." He said finally as he finished with the last cut and wiped his hands off on a towel.  
"As I said there is a lot that you don't understand. And that is enough questions for now," Snape said with finality as he put things back into their boxes and took them back to their respective cabinets. Leaving Harry for a moment, Snape went into a separate room and when he came back, He had a shirt in his hands.  
"Come back tomorrow night. I will deal with Professor Umbridge. You can bring this back when you come here tomorrow night." Professor Snape said handing the garment to Harry. Harry flushed brightly in the candlelight at the fact that Snape was borrowing him a shirt. He felt embarrassed and somehow less than a house-elf. Harry took the shirt and put it on despite it being a button-down and not something he normally would wear. Snape eyed him for a moment, looking oddly pleased by seeing Harry dressed up in his clothes. Harry didn't really know what to make of it but he felt encouraged by this new warmer version of the man.  
"I don't hate you either," Harry blurted out suddenly. The statement seemed to surprise the professor.  
"You don't?" Snape asked. Harry shook his head looking down as he felt Snape's intense gaze regarding him cautiously. The silence seemed to go on for hours.  
"Well, You don't particularly like me either," He said finally.  
"You do know that I am going to have to go to Dumbledore with this, Don't you?"  
"I know," Harry said.  
"And don't tell your friends about this. If you do, I will know." Snape said.  
"The whole thing with Umbridge is going to be hard enough to explain. I don't really want to tell them what happened." Harry said hopping off the desk in front of Snape.  
"Then don't. You don't have to tell them every detail," Snape said. Harry nodded. He felt tired and sore. Harry grabbed his robes and turned to leave. He paused for a moment watching the man clean his desk off the rest of the way.  
"Professor?" Harry asked. Snape turned to Harry in question.  
"Yes?"  
"Thank you," Harry said really just wanting to stay even though he knew it wasn't ethical. 

As Harry hurried back to the Gryffindor common room, Harry kept thinking about all the things that had just happened. He knew what Umbridge was doing wasn't right and he wondered how much worse the woman could get before someone put an end to the madness. Probably a lot since she was appointed by the Ministry. The thought made him shudder. Despite the concerns about the awful woman, Harry's mind kept wandering back to Professor Snape. Ever since the first time they had met, they had despised each other, but now his feelings for the man were suddenly changing. Still, He wondered what Snape was up to. He knew that Snape was part of the Order of the Pheonix but that didn't mean that it was a good idea to trust him completely. And it certainly didn't mean that he liked Harry. Why had he helped tonight? Was he actually worried? What were his motives? All of these thoughts bounced around in Harry's mind as he fell into an uneasy sleep.


End file.
